December 2009 Issue

The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll

America weighs in: farewell to swine-flu anxiety, California, and the phrase “get ’er done.” And will we find aliens before we cure cancer? 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair team up for a new monthly national survey. Click here to view the complete results.Plus:Video.

What is an American? The question has long captivated historians and thumb suckers. Judging from this month’s 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll, we are a hygiene-conscious nation—made up of anything but tobacco farmers and journalists—that plays it close to the vest and enjoys, in its free time, not reading the memoirs of Republican political figures. Yes, it’s catchy. It won’t quite fit on a bumper sticker (except maybe one for a Hummer, if any still roam the roads), but it does sum us up. A question: Regarding the 3 percent of Democrats who claim they will read Dick Cheney’s memoir—who are these people? Probably a cabal consisting of columnists, bloggers, and writers for The Daily Show.

We said “plays it close to the vest.” By and large, Americans are a conservative bunch, in the philosophical if not the political sense. We found no panic about swine flu. (Despite all the hand washers, even more Americans—44 percent—say they’re not changing their routines.) We balk, to the tune of 60 percent, at using that newfangled Facebook thing. A solid 65 percent of us would still like to see our kids grow up to be “doctors, bankers, lawyers, or the president” (only 2 percent said movie star or rock star—perhaps the rest fear a tell-all book). We’d just as soon keep all our 50 states, although, it should be pointed out, 10 percent would gladly cast California adrift (On three, everybody push!), and 8 percent of us are, frankly, ready to help Texas pack. Fewer than half of Americans would legalize marijuana or assisted suicide, and even fewer would decriminalize prostitution or steroid use in sports. (One note: 12 percent of Democrats say they’re fine with athletes using steroids, but we believe—although we cannot prove, and the evidence is anonymous and circumstantial—that this figure is suspiciously pumped up.)

So Americans proceed—but proceed, in some ways, with caution. We take our time. Sam Cooke told us that “a change is gonna come,” but he didn’t say when.

It used to be that many parents wanted their children to become doctors, bankers, lawyers, or the president. If they had a choice, WHICH OF THESE PROFESSIONS do you think most parents would want their children to pursue now?

Some protesters against the administration’s health-care proposals have been seen carrying signs calling for their states to secede. If you could PICK ONE STATE TO REMOVE from the United States, which one would it be?

A lot of people use CATCHPHRASES AND BUZZWORDS these days, while others would like to see people stop using them. Which of the following common words or phrases would you most like to see abandoned next?